Food advocate issues call to action during Goshen talk

January 26, 2009|By MIKE PETRUCELLI Tribune Staff Writer

GOSHEN -- On the surface, sustainable farming advocate and practitioner, Joel Salatin spent a recent evening here talking directly to farmers. The audience -- young and old, farmers and non-farmers, and about a quarter to a third Amish or Mennonite -- that filled the Goshen Theater last Tuesday heard him talk about growing produce, rotating crops and raising meat. And despite all the talk of "pathogenicity," "carbonaceous suspension" and yields and other farmspeak, what is really important about farming, and food, he said, are relationships. "Basically, we believe that God's laid down certain interconnected principles for us to live by," said Salatin, who, along with his family, runs Polyface Farm in Virginia, which was popularly featured in Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma." "Whether we're at this venue tonight or at the workplace or on the farm or whatever, all of these principles interconnect, it's a holistic web." Salatin explained how his farm works, by integrating three elements -- open land, forest land and water -- as much as possible to produce beef, pork, poultry, eggs and more. There was a lot to take in. But at the heart of all of it, Salatin maintained, were relationships. "You can have environment and economics," he said. "Good food should be aesthetically and aromatically romantic." The solution he offered to all these problems? Local food. Food raised near you, processed near you and sold near you. That means, he said, small family farms, cottage industry, kitchen industry, mobile slaughterhouses, small abattoirs and a relationship with buyers. "What we want are people to come to the farm. We want people to come get in touch with their food supply. We want to build bridges instead of barriers."Staff writer Mike Petrucelli: mpetrucelli@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6388